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INTRODUCTION TO PROCESS SAFETY

CH4101 Chemical, Biological & Plant Safety
Dr. Foo Swee Cheng
ENGINEERING ETHNICS
1. Defend the truth
2. Expose questionable practice that will lead to unsafe product/ process
Royal Academy of Engineering:
http://raeng.org.uk/societygov/engineeringethics/principles.htm
Accuracy and rigour
Honesty and integrity
Respect for life, law and public good
Responsible leadership: listening and informing
Discussion: Nicoll High collapse, 20 April 2004 Singapore
Nicoll 40 years: http://www.nce.co.uk/features/nce-40-years/no11-nicoll-highway-collapse/8629881.article
Insurance: http://news.asiaone.com/News/The+Straits+Times/Story/A1Story20080420-60781.html
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SAFETY TERMS: DEFINITIONS
Hazard: Potential source of harm/loss/damage
Risk: Probability of a certain harm/loss/damage
Individual Risk (IR): IR = (Frequency) x (Severity)
Societal Risk (SR): SR = (IR) x (population) = FN
Incident: The result of uncontrolled hazard(s)
Accident: An incident which results in consequent loss
Accident Scenario: A sequence of events which propagates
the accident
Accident outcome: The consequences of an accident
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SHE (Safety, Health & Environment) HAZARDS
Chemical hazards: Toxicity of artificial/ natural materials
Physical hazards: Flammability of artificial/ natural materials
Fire/ Thermal radiation: Heat
Explosion: Overpressure generated by fire
Biological: Living organisms e.g. bacteria, viruses, fungi
Contaminants: Healthcare/ food/ animal husbandry
Process materials: Vaccine production
Effects: Communicable or non-communicable diseases
Can reproduce itself in host
Ergonomic: work load/ tools/ organization on human
Force/ energy/ repetitiveness/ anthropometrics/ time
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SAFETY AND HEALTH
Safety: Accidental/ abnormal release of HAZARDS
Acute/ high level release: large quantity in a short time
High consequence: Acute damage to property/ population/
environment
Health: Operational/ Fugitive release of HAZARDS
Chronic/ low level emissions: Small quantity over a long time
Low consequence: Chronic damage to sensitive population/
environment in continuous/ long-term exposure
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PROCESS HAZARDS AND EFFECTS
Fire: Thermal effects
Explosion: Over-pressure effects
Toxicity: Toxic/ Health effects
Biological effects: Two unique features; e.g. ebola virus
Communicable (person-person transmission)
Reproduce itself in host (make use of host resources)
Accident
Type
Probability of
occurrence
Potential for
Fatalities
Potential for
Economic Loss
Fire High Low Intermediate
Explosion Intermediate Intermediate High
Toxic Low High Low
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COMPARING PROCESS AND PERSONAL SAFETY
Equal risk curves: R = C
1
F
1
= C
2
F
2
Process Safety
Hazard: Highly hazardous (GHS cat 1 & 2); large quantity
Severity: High; Death/ severe disable
Hazard zone: Large; zone often extends to offsite
Frequency: Low; High reliability system; less no. facilities
WSH personal safety
Hazard: Less hazardous; Wide range; less quantity
Severity: Low; Wide range
Hazard zone: Small; zone confined to location of use
Frequency: High; System less reliable; more no. facilities
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Risk curve
C
F
PROCESS SAFETY vs PERSONAL SAFETY

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OSH/ WSH
Management
Risk Curve
PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT (1)
Reduce Loss Event Frequency
Inherently safer design: moderate/ simplify
Process Reliability: Reliability engineering
Component reliability & System structure
Process Integrity: Maintenance
Prevent system failure: Reliability maintenance/ growth program
Operation reliability
Competency of operators
Technical support for operators
Human factor engineering/ Safety culture
Incident management
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PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT (2)
Reduce Loss Event Consequence
Inherently safer design: minimize/ substitute/
Minimize: Reduce the quantity of hazard in loss event
Amount of stock in individual storing units
Amount of material in individual process units
Substitute: Replace a hazardous material with less hazardous one
Direct materials (incorporated into products): Use less hazardous
route
Less hazardous/ amount of intermediates/ by-products/ wastes
Indirect materials not incorporated into products: Use less
hazardous materials
Solvents/ Catalysts/ Energy/ heating media
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PROCESS SAFETY STRATEGY: DEFENSE IN DEPTH
NORMAL OPERATIONAL
CONTROL SYSTEM
ALARM SYSTEM
SAFETY INTERLOCK/
EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN
SYSTEM
RELIEF SYSTEM
Seriousness
of event
Divert material safely
Stop the operation or part of
operation
Bring unusual situation to the
attention of a plant operator
Closed-loop control to
maintain process within
acceptable operating region
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WSH MANAGEMENT
Workplace pollution prevention
Prevention system reliability
Protection system reliability
Operator reliability
Workers exposure control/ monitor
Manage exposure dose: level x time
Biological/ medical control/ monitor
Early detection excessive absorption
Manage sensitive workers

Hierarchy of Control

Elimination
Substitution
Engineering control
Administrative control
Administrative control
Personal protection
Early detection/ treatment
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RISK ACCEPTANCE CONCEPTS
Except in extraordinary
circumstances
Risk reduction impractical
or cost disproportionate
to gain
Cost of reduction exceed
the improvement
To ensure risk remains
at this level
Unacceptable region
No exposure allowed
ALARP region
Risk is tolerated only
if a benefit is desired
ALARP required
Broadly acceptable region
ALARP not required
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EXAMPLE: AN RISK ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
Public Risk Criteria Occupational Risk

Unacceptable Risk
10
-3


Unacceptable Risk
Tolerable if emergency
procedures and protective
equipment are in place
10
-4


Acceptable for manufacturing,
warehouses, open spaces,
parkland, golf courses, etc.
Tolerable if emergency
procedures are in place
10
-5


Acceptable for commercial
offices, low density residential
Negligible risk
10
-6


Negligible risk - No land use
restrictions


IR/yr
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ACCIDENT STATISTICS
Singapore, MOM: Accident frequency Rate (AFR)
AFR: Accidents per 1,000,000 man-hrs worked
Singapore, MOM: Accident Severity Rate (ASR)
ASR: Man-days lost per 1,000,000 man-hrs worked
Fatal Accident Rate (FAR)
British: Fatalities per 100,000,000 man-hrs worked
MOM: fatalities per 100,000 workers per year
Fatality Rate (FR): Deaths per person per year
Individual Risk (IR): The chance of death per person per year
Relationship between (FAR) and (FR)
British: (FAR)(man-hrs worked/person-year)/(10
8
) = (FR)
MOM: (FAR)/(100,000) = (FR)
Read: Textbook 1 3 Accident and Loss Statistics, page 4 12
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EXAMPLE: Accident Rates
Factory A (100 workers): #man-hours worked per year:
100 x 50 x 5 x 8 = 200,000 man-hrs
No. of accidents: 5 per year
AFR (MOM): 5 x 1,000,000 / 200,000 = 25
Total number of MC-days: 10 days per year
ASR (MOM): 10 x 1,000,000 / 200,000 = 50
No. of Fatalities: 1 per year
FAR (British): 1 x 100,000,000 / 200,000 = 500
FAR (MOM): 1 x 100000/100 = 1000
Fatality Rate (FR): 1/100 = 1 x 10
-2
per person per year
British: man-hr worked per person = (FR)/(FAR)
(1/100)/(500/100,000,000) = 2000 man-hrs per person-year
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SAFETY TARGETS: FAR OR FR
For planning or design
To meet national or company requirements

e.g.
Singapore 2018 target: FR = < 1.8 by 2018
Plant risk:
Multiple/ Overall risk: (FAR) < 2
Single/ Each risk: FAR < 0.4
ACCIDENT PROCESSES
Initiation:
Event that starts the accident
Propagation:
Event/ events that maintain/ expand the accident
Termination:
Event/ events that stop the accident/ diminish it in size



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ACCIDENT MITIGATION PRINCIPLES



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Initiation Diminish
(Prevent/ remove
the potential of
accident causing
events)
Grounding and bonding
Inerting
Explosion proof electrical
Guardrails and guards
Maintenance procedures
Hot work permits
Human factors design
Process design
Awareness of dangerous properties of chemicals
Propagation Diminish
(Reduce potential
for accident to
continue escalation)
Emergency material transfer
Reduce inventories of flammable materials
Equipment spacing and layout
Nonflammable construction materials
Installation of check and emergency shutoff valves
Termination Increase
(Increase capacity
to terminate the
accident)
Fire-fighting equipment and procedures
Relief systems
Sprinkler systems
Installation of check and emergency shutoff valves
JOHORE TANK FIRE
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Initiation: Lightning?
Propagation: Spread to another tank
1/3 of content in 2
nd
tank transferred
before catching fire
Termination: Fire put out in 67 hours
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand the basis concepts/ definitions of safety, health &
environmental terminology/ principles in
Hazards
Risk: Frequency & Consequence
Risk management principles
Accident processes
Safety performance indicators: Accident statistics
The differences between
Safety and health
Process safety and WSH/ personal safety



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END
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